Friday, February 22, 2013

Memories of Karuizawa 2: 1991/2013

For their second "Memories of Karuizawa" release, the people at Whisk-e selected a cask from the 1991 vintage. The 1990s are a bit of an unknown quantity for most Karuizawa fans, so this is a welcome chance to dip into unfamiliar territory. "Memories of Karuizawa 2" was drawn from sherry cask #9106 - one of those typical bespoke casks, slightly smaller than a sherry butt - and bottled at a cask strength of 63.7% abv.

On the nose, you get stewed fruits (raspberries and blueberries), honey-glazed apple-pear tart, macadamia nuts, walnut skins and a hint of steamed beets. There's also a subtle floral dimension to it in the background. The attack on the palate is quite intense. The initial impressions are pommeau (i.e. a blend of calvados and apple must), walnut bread and allspice. It packs quite a punch, but when you recover from it, you're rewarded with orange marmalade and fresh ginger ale. Beautiful! The finish is long and spicy. As it slowly fades, you get more of the stewed fruit notes. But wait, the party isn't over yet... after a minute or so, a lovely tartness emerges with a hint of lemon cake. And then, teetering on the brink between perception and memory, you get some cafe mocha and glazed chestnuts. Water makes it a bit more approachable and sweeter on the palate, but it also brings out more citrus notes, which is nice.

It's very different from the 1st "Memories", but I guess that's the whole concept behind the series: showing different facets of the distillery output at different points in its history. This, the 2nd release in the series will go on sale in Japan today but the good news is, it will be available to Bond#1 members worldwide via this link. It'll probably sell out in no time, but don't despair! There's a sister cask, so sooner or later...

I have just ordered my Bond1 membership. Certainly i won't be able to use the most advantages here from Germany but the abiltiy to get some limited bottlings sounds interesting enough to me and - ihave spent money for more stupid things in the past ;-) The only problem may be the registration process as you cannot choose a foreign country. It's written, that you shall choose "Tokyo" so let's wait an see, what happens ...

Thanks for the feedback, Martin. The shopping cart on the Malt City (which Bond#1 is a part of) wasn't designed to handle foreign addresses and the system is fairly inflexible, apparently. The people at Whisk-e are trying to address the problem, but in the mean time, customers living abroad should select "Tokyo" and then carry on with their own address. I agree it's not ideal, but I can assure you, there's nothing to worry about.

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